Hollywood feels more like the centre of the universe than ever this week as the arrival of the two biggest films of the year coincides with a historic actors’ strike.
Excitement for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has reached a fever pitch as their simultaneous release has finally arrived.
While Oppenheimer’s critical ratings have blown past Barbie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomato score, it’s expected that the latter will, in fact, take over the former in ticket sales.
Barbie is estimated to earn $110m at the US box office during opening weekend, while Oppenheimer is set to take in $50m.
Warner Bros announced Friday (21 July) that Barbie had earned $22.3m (£17.3m) in box office previews – the highest figure of any film this year. Universal, meanwhile, said Oppenheimer collected $10.5m (£8.2m) in preview earnings.
Oppenheimer’s London premiere was cut short, however, as the cast left early in preparation for the SAG-AFTRA strike order, which was initiated hours after the event.
